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CRIME

Reported rapes in Denmark double in two years

A record 744 rapes were reported in Denmark last year, doubling the number of reports in 2014 according to figures from Statistics Denmark that were first reported by Metroxpress.

Published: 1 February 2017 11:44 CET
Reported rapes in Denmark double in two years
The Danish National Police plan a campaign later this year to encourage more rape victims to speak out. Photo: Rigspolitiet
According to a consultant to the Danish National Police, the sharp increase is due in part to police districts better recording rape reports. 
 
“We are very pleased that we now have more accurate numbers on how many men and women have reported rapes. Previously there were many cases that were treated under the category of ‘investigation numbers’ that did not get included in the statistics of reported rapes,” Thomas Brædder told Metroxpress. 
 
Last year it was reported that an investigation by the Ministry of Justice indicated that as many as 700 rape cases per year were being filed incorrectly by police. 
 
The majority of the ‘missing' reports were hidden in police statistics by giving them investigation numbers that did not classify them as rape cases. A number of police departments confirmed to Metroxpress that this was standard practice in cases where there was doubt as to whether a rape had actually occurred.
 
That practice was discontinued in November 2015, so the 2016 rape report figures from Statistics Denmark represent the first full year under the improved reporting. 
 
But there are still concerns that the official figures only paint a partial picture. According to Metroxpress, a new study is underway to determine how many rapes go unreported in Denmark each year. 
 
“We are preparing to make a study on the number of rapes and sexual assaults so that we can put an actual figure on the extent. There are a number of cases in which the victim believes that she has been subjected to an assault but doesn’t believe that anything criminal has occurred,” Marie Heinskou, a professor at the University of Copenhagen who is involved with the coming study, told Metroxpress. 
 
Brædder said that the Danish National Police also plans a public information campaign later this year that will encourage more rape victims to speak out. 
 
“We know that there are a number of victims who for a variety of reasons never go to the police. We would like to speak with them,” he said. 
 
Here are the number of reported rapes over the past six years according to Statistics Denmark:
 
2011: 392
2012: 364
2013: 339
2014: 365
2015: 419
2016: 744

CRIME

Danish government backs removing children from gang-connected families

Denmark’s government wants authorities to be able to move children out of families in which parents are gang members and is likely to formalise the measure in parliament.

Published: 9 April 2024 13:38 CEST
Danish government backs removing children from gang-connected families

The justice spokesperson with senior coalition partner the Social Democrats, Bjørn Brandenborg, told regional media TV2 Fyn that he wants authorities to have the power to remove children from their families in certain circumstances where the parents are gang members.

Brandenborg’s comments came on Monday, after Odense Municipality said it had spent 226 million kroner since 2009 on social services for eight specific families with gang connections.

“There is simply a need for us to give the authorities full backing and power to forcibly remove children early so we break the food chain and the children don’t become part of gang circles,” he said.

The measure will be voted on in parliament “within a few weeks”, he said.

An earlier agreement on anti-gang crime measures, which was announced by the government last November, includes provisions for measures of this nature, Brandenborg later confirmed to newswire Ritzau.

“Information [confirming] that close family members of a child or young person have been convicted for gang crime must be included as a significant and element in the municipality’s assessment” of whether an intervention is justified, the agreement states according to Ritzau.

The relevant part of November’s political agreement is expected to be voted on in parliament this month.

READ ALSO: Denmark cracks down on gang crime with extensive new agreement

Last year, Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard told political media Altinget that family relations to a gang member could be a parameter used by authorities when assessing whether a child should be forcibly removed from parents.

In the May 2023 interview, Hummelgaard called the measure a “hard and far-reaching measure”.

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